By Shahid Javed Burki ISLAMABAD: The 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States sent shock waves around the world from which Pakistan has still not recovered. Indeed, Pakistan’s participation in what former President George W. Bush called the “global war on terror” has produced overwhelmingly negative consequences, as it thrust the country to the forefront of …

By Shahid Javed Burki ISLAMABAD: Relations between the United States and Pakistan have continued to fray since a US Special Forces team killed Osama bin Laden in a comfortable villa near a major Pakistani military academy. But the tit-for-tat retaliation that has followed the raid reflects deeper sources of mistrust and mutual suspicion. The latest round …

By Shahid Javed Burki ISLAMABAD: Large events sometimes have unintended strategic consequences. This is turning out to be the case following the killing of Osama bin Laden in a compound in Abbottabad, a military-dominated town near Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital. The fact that the world’s most wanted man lived for a half-dozen years in a large house …

By Shahid Javed Burki ISLAMABAD: Osama bin Laden’s death in a firefight with United States special forces will profoundly affect Pakistan’s relations with America. The death of Al Qaeda’s leader deep in Pakistan, in a city with a heavy military presence, appears to confirm what many have long alleged: Pakistan, not Afghanistan, has become the epicenter …

By Shahid Javed Burki ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s domestic situation is becoming increasingly precarious. Indeed, serious questions are now being raised as to whether the country can survive in its present form. Such questions stem from a growing fear that Islamist groups might once again make a serious bid to capture the levers of power in the …